Page 76 of The Gilded Ones

Snuffling his annoyance, Ixa ripples his tail so I can slide down it to the ground. By the time my feet touch down, he has shrunk to his normal feline state, and he wraps himself around my neck with a small chirp.

“Did you see that?” one of the recruits gasps. “It just changed again!”

I walk towards the captain, nervous. “I just sort of found him,” I say, taking Ixa from my neck and reluctantly holding him up for view.

Captain Kelechi squints down at him, intrigued. “Where?” he asks.

I swallow, sweat suddenly prickling my forehead. “At—”

“The Warthu Bera,” Belcalis says, stepping forward. “We all found him at the Warthu Bera. He was by the lake.”

“The lake?” the captain echoes disbelievingly. “Which one?”

“The one where we take lessons with the Lady of the Equus,” Britta says. She steps forward, sliding easily into Belcalis’s lie. “An’ he wasn’t that big when we found him. We thought he was some sort of cat. As ye can see, he changes form.”

“He’s probably been doing so for some time now,” Adwapa adds, her face perfectly straight. “At least, that’s what Karmoko White Hands says. She’s the one who told Deka to care for him.”

Something I didn’t know was clenched inside me releases. My friends are coming to Ixa’s rescue. They’re protecting him for me.

Captain Kelechi looks from one to the other, then abruptly nods. “Very well,” he says, turning on his heel. “We will continue this discussion later with the Lady of the Equus.”

I slump, relieved. That went much better than I thought it would.

As we return to camp, I hold on tightly to Ixa, deep in thought. What exactly is he? I wonder, looking down at his furry blue form. Is this truly his real form, or is that the one he turned into earlier, when he saved us? Even more important, what were those deathshrieks back there? They were wearing cochleans and using slingshots.

I already knew their kind was much cleverer than ordinary predators, but this – this defies all expectation. I’m so deep in thought, I barely notice Adwapa, Britta and Belcalis approaching until they’re flanking either side of me, leading me from the group.

“What?” I say, staring from one to the other when I notice that Britta is avoiding my eyes.

Belcalis looks around, making sure no one is listening. By now, the recruits and the others are slogging towards the edge of the swamp, where the battle matrons and assistants are waiting with the horses.

“Ixa wasn’t the only worrisome transformation that happened today,” she says, turning back to me.

Just like that, the clenched feeling is back in my stomach. “What do you mean?” I ask.

“When you called to the deathshrieks, yer eyes – they changed,” Britta explains in a hushed whisper.

“That always happens,” I say.

“But then the rest of you began to as well.” This quiet statement comes from Belcalis.

I stop midstep, turn to her. “What does that mean?”

“They mean that for a moment, your skin leathered.” All of us whirl to face Gazal, who approached so quietly, we didn’t even hear her as she neared. Her face has its usual calm expression as she says, “It looked just like a deathshriek’s.”

My heart stops, the words like an arrow through them. Leathering? Changing? What are they talking about?

“That’s not even the worst thing that happened, though,” Adwapa adds.

“What do you mean?” I ask, my heart pounding so hard, it feels like it’ll leap out of my chest. When she looks away again, uncomfortable, my heartbeat doubles.

“She means we felt it – your voice. When you told the deathshrieks to show themselves, we all felt the command inside us – compelling us,” Gazal says.

“Compelling…?” I look from one to the other, still not understanding.

“Commanding,” Belcalis says. “Your voice commanded us the way it did the deathshrieks. It took everything in me to resist it. It was so beautiful, but in a strange, terrifying way.”

I’m so shocked, my knees feel weak. Then I have another thought. I look at the recruits, who are now out the marsh and hurrying to their horses. “The recruits, did they—”

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